Monday, 24 August 2009

Dannatt: the best defence is ...

Between April 2005 and March 2009 Sir Richard claimed just £19,291, which included having to entertain the heads of other national armies.

By comparison Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, claimed £394,306 in Commons expenses between 2005 and 2008, the latest year for which figures were available.

Hah! That's cunted them entirely. And a bit of drilling down into the expenses makes it even better:

Sir Richard’s biggest claim was £1,540.91 for a supper reception to promote “unit cohesiveness” for 110 people on July 7, 2005. That amounts to just £14 per person.

He also claimed £1,320.81 for a barbecue reception for 120 people which worked out at £11 per head. That was held to welcome the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.

On one occasion he held a reception for an Indian army chief, with 24 guests, at Kensington Palace and claimed just £123.58, or £5.15 a head. He even used the budget supermarket Lidl to cut costs.

By contrast Mr Ainsworth, as revealed by the Daily Telegraph in June, claimed nearly £6,000 for the redecoration of his second home and submitted bills that included rebuilding the fireplace and fitting oak beams into his ceiling.

Well, I think that the Labour ploy of smearing Dannatt has turned into a spectacular own goal. Hell, my expenses for work for the same period were probably more than 20 grand (albeit that customers and my employer paid my expenses, they weren't extorted from anyone!)

Hell, can you see an MP actually entertaining anyone for £14? That's not even a glass of wine fit for an MP or a starter, let alone an entire meal complete with "refreshments".

I've never had a problem with reasonable expenses, even from the taxpayer kitty. By my standards, I would even describe Dannatt as parsimonious. MP's would do very well indeed to look at the outgoing head of the army to see how things should be done.

I was chatting to a well oiled RAF sergant at the Penninsula club on Cyprus a couple of days ago and he said "if that cunt comes here he better be wearing body armour"...he aint well thought of by the boys at the sharp end.

I've spoken to Kevan about this actually, apparently the context it was within was that the general was complaining about living quarters of the troops, so he looked into his expenses and asked questions.